


Test of Wills

by Alethia



Category: Dark Angel
Genre: Episode Related, F/M, Fucked Up, Manticore (Dark Angel), Mating Cycles/In Heat, Renfro is a Sociopath, Sexual Coercion
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-02-20
Updated: 2006-02-20
Packaged: 2018-01-09 23:14:04
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,653
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1151941
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alethia/pseuds/Alethia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“I’ve got doctors screaming at me to let them take you apart, see where this stubborn streak comes from, and I could do that. But I want you to do what I say. And <i>remember</i> it.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Test of Wills

**Author's Note:**

> Standalone, what-if story about how 2.01 “Designate This” could have gone. Originally posted [here](http://alethialia.livejournal.com/182231.html).

“Report.”

Neither of them spoke, Max not knowing what to say and 494—well, who knew what he was thinking?

Renfro looked annoyed, eyeing both of them, and she just had to say someth—

“Successful copulation between myself and X5-452, ma’am…Twice.” What the hell? _That_ was not going to be what she said.

And Renfro didn’t expect it either, raising an eyebrow and turning to Max. “Excellent, 452. What would your boyfriend say?”

Max said nothing, keeping her face impassive.

Renfro’s eyes flicked between the two of them again. And then she smiled.

“Unfortunately for you, I do know you better than that.” She shifted attention back to 494, tilting her head, assessing. “Although, the loyalty you seem to inspire in even the most far-gone is…fascinating.”

Renfro nodded to a couple of the guards. “Take her to the med bay and have one of the doctors confirm that there was no successful copulation and then bring her to my office.”

Max was gripped by her upper arms. She didn’t resist as she was led away, though she did look back as Renfro turned on 494. “Just so you know, it wasn’t the ‘twice’ that tipped me off. But it would have.” She said it almost intimately and Max would swear they were friends if—if 494 didn’t have a serious muscle working in his jaw.

Then she was shoved into the building and she couldn’t see any more.

***

The thing about Manticore was that there was no end to the humiliations. If it wasn’t Renfro pounding into her, day after day, that she would never see Logan again, if it wasn’t days of endless hunger and pain, laid out for all to see, it was some no-name doctor pushing his hand between her legs in search of medical certainty.

Medical certainty, right.

The exam didn’t take long, the doctor snapping his gloves off and writing something on a chart. He gave it to the guard and sent her on her way, right into Renfro’s office. She was waiting.

Her eyes casually flicked over the report, tiny curl of a smile lifting at her lips.

“Well, 452, as I expected. No evidence of copulation whatsoever. Tell me, why did you fail to complete your mission?”

“Your mission’s sick!” Max said, letting the anger show in her voice.

Renfro tsked. “Remember where you are, 452. I ask again, why did you fail to complete your mission?”

Max stiffened, held her head high. “The mission was inefficient, ma’am.”

Renfro raised an eyebrow. “Gosh, if it was efficiency that you only cared about, you wouldn’t have destroyed the gene bank and then we wouldn’t even be discussing this.”

“There’s no reason to require nightly copulation, ma’am. You could just harvest eggs and sperm, combine them yourself.”

Renfro nodded, folding her arms. “That is true, 452, but the process of harvesting eggs from females is taxing to the system. It would put an unacceptable number of females out of the field.”

Max stayed silent.

“But that’s not really what you care about and, in the end, _I_ don’t really care. The thing I wonder is…what it is about you that tugs at the heartstrings of even the coldest soldier? What makes you so special? You’re not particularly nice. You’re not charming. And, while beautiful, your looks are typical of your breed. And yet I’ve got a soldier who just lied for you. Why is that?”

“I don’t know, ma’am,” she said stiffly, holding her hands rigidly behind her back.

She smiled, cold. “We’ll just have to look into that.” She flicked a wrist at the guard and Max was led out, back to her cell to sit. And wait.

***

It was the not knowing that got to you. Max didn’t know anything anymore, she didn’t know what was going on with Logan, she didn’t know how OC and Sketchy and Herbal and Kendra were doing. She didn’t know anything.

And she didn’t know anything about this place, either. She stayed in her cell, all day, the guards only stopping by to bring her food and collect the empty plates. They didn’t even speak to her.

And yet the lock turning at what must be midnight didn’t surprise her at all.

Maybe she did know something, she just didn’t want to face it.

494’s eyes were wary when he walked in, taking in a cell that hadn’t changed. He looked—tired.

“Don’t tell me they sent you for the same mission. Didn’t think Renfro was that thick.”

He narrowed his eyes. “It’s not my job to question my orders.”

She scoffed. “Right. I forgot, you’re the good little soldier, running the black market and lying to your superiors. You have such a moral leg to stand on.”

“Hey! I had a good thing goin’ before you had to come back. This is _not_ on me. So since we’re stuck together, you might try being pleasant for once.”

“I didn’t ask you to lie,” she shot back. “And Renfro seems to think that’s unusual for you, so turn that anger right back on yourself, soldier-boy. And ask yourself why.”

“I already have.”

Max lifted her eyebrows, mocking. “I’m waiting with baited breath.”

“I don’t know why, but I’m really starting to regret it.”

“I’m sure they loved that answer.”

“They didn’t ask.”

That made her stop, sweep his eyes over him quickly. “What?”

“Gosh, you’re quick. They didn’t ask,” he repeated, slowly. “Should I get a piece of paper so you can write it down?”

Max narrowed her eyes, thinking. “That’s all Renfro wanted to know.”

“Well, I dunno what to tell ya,” he said, spreading his hands.

“That makes no sense.”

“Whatever. Just don’t expect me to stick up for your ass anymore, all right, 452?”

She eyed him lazily. “My name’s Max.”

He dismissed her with a look. “Whatever you say.”

“You should have a name, too.”

“I told you, my designation’s 494,” he said blandly.

“Doesn’t suit you. I’m gonna call you Alec.”

“Alec?”

“As in smart aleck.”

He smirked. “I can live with that.”

“Good. ‘Cause my second choice was Dick.” He smirk faded at that and he sent her a nasty look.

“Since you don’t seem to be in the mood,” he said, eyes touching on the more embarrassing parts of her body, “I’m gonna take another nap. You’ll wake me, won’t you honey?”

“You sure you wanna sleep around me? You never know what the rebel’s gonna do.”

He smirked. “I’d love to see you try it. Max.” He lay down, got comfortable, and closed his eyes.

Max sat on the stone floor. And waited. Again.

***

It was amazing what you’d think about when you had nothing but time. Max paced around her small space, feeling trapped, images of her life there and here all interwoven into some kind of jumble.

There was just too much time to think. The guards hadn’t come to take her to training, like they should have. They brought meals, like yesterday, and that was it. She had no contact with anyone, only short bathroom breaks, and she had no idea what was going on.

Meaning she had no distractions.

Except the one, her cell opening again.

“What the hell is going on?”

“All I know is that I’m stuck in confinement because of you. And a guard would only tell me I’ve been taken off of active duty. Thanks, Max.”

“I’ve been stuck here all day and no one will even talk to me.”

“That’s just great. My whole career, down the tube because of you.”

“Yeah, ‘cause it was such a stellar career to begin with. So many opportunities for advancement.”

He growled. “You ready to have sex yet? Because then maybe we’d get out of here.”

“You ready to force me?”

His jaw clenched and he looked away, shaking his head, not at her, but something. He sighed, deflated, slumping next to her on the bed and scrubbing a hand across the back of his neck.

“I don’t even get what they want from us,” he sighed.

“Besides the obvious.”

Alec laughed, humorless. “Shows what you know. They have ways of making you do what they want. If they really wanted us rollin’ in the hay every night, we would be.”

“So, what, they think we’ll make good company for one another?”

He chuckled, slanting a warm glance over at her. “Yeah, that’s it. It’s all about our mental health, you know.”

Max wanted to smile, which was what made her pull back—that she wanted it. Instead she shook her head and leaned against the rough stone of the wall, letting the quiet envelop her, letting time lengthen and stretch into something comfortable. Somehow it wasn’t as bad with someone else there.

“You don’t realize how many people you talk to each day until they’re gone, huh?” he asked, meditative.

Max glanced at him and he was doing just what she was, sitting back and thinking. “Guess not,” she said neutrally.

He rolled his eyes. “Hey, I’m just makin’ conversation, here.”

“Well, since you opened the door…why did Renfro call you ‘the most far-gone’ out there, when you said we’d completed the mission?” It had been one of those things looping through her mind all day, the curiosity about him, what his deal was.

Alec laughed, but it was a bitter, harsh thing. “Let’s just say I’ve been a bad boy and Mommy’s not happy.”

“What does that mean?” She didn’t put any bite into it. His gaze was…unfocused, far off. She didn’t think he’d respond to any acid and she did want to know.

“This isn’t the first time I’ve failed to complete my mission. Willfully.”

“I thought you were the perfect soldier—cold and hard and doing what you’re told.”

“Obviously not. Really, I’m surprised they haven’t dumped my ass in psy ops yet. They sure didn’t waste time the last time.”

“Why, you lookin’ forward to your stay?”

He laughed again. “Just the opposite, though I’m sure the docs will be happy to see me, they know me so well.”

“You’ve been there that often?”

“Like I told you, I’ve been a bad boy,” he mused, smile curling his lips into something rueful.

And then the guard was there, opening the door. Alec sighed and hefted himself up, but not before he shot Max a weary smile, a knowing there that called to her, made her want to figure him out, protect him.

The guard slammed the door, shutting her away. If only thoughts were as easy.

***

The guard checking the door was too early, Alec couldn’t be here yet. She’d only just had dinner.

That was because it wasn’t Alec stepping through the door, instead a white-coated, blank-faced doctor with a very large syringe. And three guards.

“What’s goin’ on, fellas?” she asked, standing slowly.

None answered. The doctor tapped his syringe, clearing the air bubble, and gestured for her to lift her arm. The thought of resisting flitted through her, but one look at the guards said they’d been warned and wouldn’t look on it too happily.

So she shrugged and did as she was told. It barely even hurt.

“Do I get to know what the hell that was?” she tried again. Still nothing. The doc checked her breathing, pulse, and then was gone, the door again locked behind her.

That was weird.

Max shook her head and laid back, staring at the ceiling, time crawling by, as usual.

And then she started to feel funny—hot, like she couldn’t catch her breath, almost light-headed. She sat up, thinking she could get some more air, but that just made the world sway, made her gasp even harder, her heart racing.

Then her skin started tingling, like something was snaking underneath, just waiting to get out, and Max didn’t even hear the door opening, was too focused on what she was feeling.

Until Alec walked in.

He took one look at her, his nostrils flared, and his eyes widened. “Whoa.”

Every single instinct was telling her to walk over there and push him up against the door, put his mouth to much better use. It felt almost like she was—

“Are you in heat?” he asked, incredulous, taking a couple steps toward her like it was instinct, thoughtless.

Max gripped the edge of the bed and tried to ignore the lines of his hips and thighs, the stretch of his shoulders.

“Stay over there,” she ground out, flicking her eyes to the far wall, suddenly seeming so much closer.

He did as he was told, backing up until he hit the wall and slid down, watching her with eyes gone wide and hazy. “Max,” he hissed, the sound making every part of her want to go over there and find out what else would make him say her name like that.

“Not heat,” she whispered, focusing all her attention on the floor, ignoring how she’d zeroed in on his scent without meaning to. “They gave me something. Don’t know what it was.”

“Guess they’re done waiting,” Alec murmured, the way his voice had gone low sending sparks of want racing down her spine.

“Not if I have anything to say about it,” she growled, vehement. She didn’t care what her body was telling her, she was not at its mercy. At _their_ mercy.

“You don’t have to be so stubborn. This could all stop.” Coaxing.

She looked up then, focused on the way his eyes were completely glassy, how his breathing had sped up. Just as affected, then.

“I don’t want you,” she said distinctly, seeing it hit, seeing it clear a little of the fog.

“Right.” He looked away. Silence settled between them.

Until she broke it. “It’s only an hour,” she said. She ignored that it had been five minutes and already it was unbearable.

He grunted and Max didn’t look over. She didn’t want to know what she’d do if she did.

It felt like longer than an hour, his presence, his scent, soaking into everything until it was all she could feel, all over her, heat pooling into yearning slickness between her thighs.

God, it felt like she was dying and ambrosia was just a few short steps away.

Max bowed her head to her knees, gritted her teeth, and continued to hold on, every muscle in her body coiled tight and ruthlessly leashed.

Alec didn’t say anything but she could hear him panting, shifting. He held all her focus and she had no frame of reference. All she knew was him and how she felt. Ticks of a clock that wasn’t there became incidental. Alec was the only thing that mattered and she had to _force_ herself to stay put every time her mind strayed, reminded her there was no good reason not to go over, have a taste.

It made her hands grip the bed frame that much harder. She hoped she didn’t break anything.

And then it let up, just slightly, but when in agony, degrees mattered. She let her muscles loosen, slowly, feeling the effects start to subside, the tingling in her hands as blood rushed back distracting her all the more. Alec sounded better, too, less ragged, desperate.

She dared a glance up, shocked to see the harshness of the overheads grimly outlining his bowed head.

But his knuckles weren’t as white and he seemed more slumped than forcing himself into inaction.

“That was longer than an hour,” she said lowly, her voice shot, practically unrecognizable.

He lifted his head, like under water, everything in slow motion. “Yeah,” he agreed, eyes bloodshot and weighty.

Their eyes connected, sparked, and held, the stare entrancing her, something impossible to look away from.

Until the door opened, the guard looking at them curiously.

Alec cleared his throat. He uncurled himself, looking almost pained, and Max glanced away.

She could give him that, at least.

***

Max was completely fine, no way it could have been heat. They must have some drug that mimicked the effects, only for shorter time periods. It made her want to know if it similarly affected the reproductive system, but it wasn’t like they were about to tell her exactly what went on with the drugs they were forcing on her.

She sat up, wary, when her door opened. It was Alec, equally wary, stepping a careful boot into her cell.

“I’m fine,” she said, intent. 

His eyes swept her, making sure, and he nodded. And then smirked. “You sure are,” he said, shaking his head and plopping himself down on her bunk.

It made her smile, roll her eyes. Only Alec.

It was weird, she felt like she _knew_ him.

“How are you?” she asked, really wondering, remembering the way he looked that morning—pained, desperate.

“Well, I sure had the best jerk-off session _ever_ ,” he said companionable, laughing aloud when she hit him. “No, really, it was awesome, Max. I’ve never been so hard in my life.”

“Yeah, thanks for the info,” she grumbled, looking over toward the wall, not wanting to see him when he talked about…that. 

“Any time. You sure know how to do a number on a guy.”

“Not my fault they pumped me full of something,” she protested, looking back at him.

“You know what it was?” he asked, eyes sweeping her like the answer would be written on her skin. Or something.

She shook her head. “Felt like heat, but it wore off way too quickly.”

Alec hmmed, shifting a little. “I wonder if that’s what heat would feel like on my end.”

“Oh, you know, every instinct screaming at you to have sex or die, that sorta thing.”

He grinned, bright, despite the shadows under his eyes. “And you _resisted_? What’s _wrong_ with you?”

“The cat’s not all we are,” she said distantly, fiddling with the edge of her bunk.

“I guess. Don’t know why you’d want to pass up hot sex, though.”

“Hot sex isn’t all there is to it,” she pointed out.

Alec made a disgusted sound, shaking his head. “Wow, you are so allergic to fun, _I_ can’t even be amused by it. That’s sad.”

“Gosh, so sorry to disappoint.”

He snorted, amused, but didn’t respond, just kind of curling up, eyes watching her, glittering.

It went on for a while, Max resolutely ignoring it. Proving she could.

Until she couldn’t. “Okay, what?” she snapped.

“You must’ve completely confounded the docs.” He said it like he relished it, like his enjoyment was directly tied to their state of confusion.

He must really have liked his stay in their care.

“What do you mean?”

“Conventional wisdom goes that females have no control during heat, will screw the nearest male she can find. You were stuck in a room, with the sexiest soldier in this place, and didn’t budge an inch.”

“The sexiest soldier at Manticore? I didn’t see him.”

He smirked. “Uh-huh. You know all you wanted was to push me down and ravage my admittedly hot body.”

“But I didn’t ravage you. That’s what counts,” she said, haughty.

Alec levered himself up, got into her space, eyes gleaming. “But you wanted to,” he said, low. His scent swamped her again, not as overpowering as yesterday, but still tantalizing.

“Poor baby. You’re confusing chemical reactions with want,” she said, mock-sad and refusing to back down, meeting his stare head-on.

Alec smirked. Increased the space between them as he drew back toward the foot of her bed. He shook it off.

“Either way, Renfro’s gotta be pissed.”

“Wouldn’t know. I haven’t seen anyone but you and my favorite storm trooper out there since this started.”

He shrugged. “Same here. Weird.” They lapsed into silence again, Max acutely aware of how close he was, the minute shifts of the blankets from his presence, aware of him like nothing else. Still.

They both jerked when the door opened.

“Guess we’re back to an hour a night,” he said, grinning. He snapped off a salute and swaggered out.

She shook her head and smiled, laying down, smelling him even now.

Max didn’t move.

***

“Anyone ever told you it’s rude to be late?” she said, even if she didn’t know if he really was past due. It seemed later and besides, baiting him was the only pleasure she got these days.

He didn’t answer, didn’t even look away from the floor as the door closed behind him, and Max leaned forward, trying to catch his gaze.

“Alec?”

He finally looked up, catching her gaze and—oh.

She _got_ it—pupils just gone, chest rising and falling more rapidly than normal, teeth gritted in frustration. She didn’t look any further down, didn’t really want to know.

“Oh.”

“Yeah,” he grunted. “I’m just gonna go sit over there.” He walked as far away as he could get—again, still not very far—and sat, knees pulled up to his chest, forehead pressed to them.

With the movement Max could smell him better, heady and thick in the air, shooting heat straight through her.

She closed her eyes, sucked in a gasp, tried hard not to think on it. 

That failed miserably. It wasn’t as bad as her heat, not nearly, but pervasive enough to have her shifting uncomfortably, for her body to respond predictably, make her itch to have him there.

She risked a glance and Alec looked just destroyed, his hands gripping his legs, breathing hard and refusing to look at her, acknowledge her existence.

Max didn’t think they’d be coming to get him anytime soon.

***

Max paced, back and forth, back and forth. Alec had left exactly as the time before, broken at dawn, not even acknowledging her as he walked out. And that was—good. As it should be.

She couldn’t help but think things were different. He was forever associated in her mind with sex, despite that they hadn’t had any, and—it’d been a while since she’d thought of a guy like that.

 _Felt_ like that. She knew it was drugs and chemical reactions, but she couldn’t shake the memory of the craving and it was driving her _nuts_. She threw herself on her bunk in a huff.

People couldn’t take this. It was messing with her mind, with all her instincts, everything she trusted. It was muddying everything that had been so clear and she wanted it to _stop_.

Alec was cautious when he walked in, stepping carefully, watching her watch him.

“I’m cool,” he said at last, once the guard had gone.

Max let her eyes sweep him, cataloguing his reactions, all baseline for a transgenic. She relaxed and nodded, leaning back against the wall.

He perched on his usual spot next to her, watching her, measured.

This felt—different. She knew it would.

“What, not feelin’ the need to tell me all about how hard you got off this morning?” she asked, trying to go for the lightness that had been…

And utterly failing.

Alec smiled, a shadow of a thing. “Did you want me to?”

Max shrugged, hating this awareness that had appeared, making her notice all the things she shouldn’t—the way the light accented golden tones in his hair, the stretch of gray cotton over his shoulders. 

Unproductive and totally out of her control. Wonderful.

“Just makin’ conversation,” she said, remembering when he’d said the same, a universe away for the two of them now.

“Max—” He paused and his tone made her interrupt; she _couldn’t_ let him go where he was going.

“You—you’re all right?” she stumbled out, first thing she could think of.

“Of course. They wouldn’t harm their cash cow, not unless I’d done something unforgivable.”

“Good. That’s—good.” She forced her body to be open, refused the tension that wanted to be.

He wasn’t buying it, but at least he leaned back, slipped into something that wasn’t an inch from shattering.

“They, uh, they gave me something,” he started, looking at his hands.

“Yeah.”

“Biggest damn needle I ever saw. I’ll spare you the details of where they insisted on putting it.” He put some dryness into his tone and Max smiled, appreciated the effort.

“Please, do.”

“That was—that was something.”

“Have sex or die,” she murmured, staring at the floor. And Alec—hadn’t.

“Pretty accurate description, there, Max.” He tried to make it into a joke…but it didn’t catch, fell flat between them.

This time the silence was awkward stretching into unbearable as the time passed and Max didn’t know what to do about it. She felt like she didn’t know anything anymore.

He finally broke it. “I guess—I guess there was one good thing about it.”

Max snorted. “What good could possibly come out of torturing us like this?”

Alec looked at her, weighing something in his mind, silence thick but no longer awkward. Not like it had been anyway. “I learned something about myself, something I didn’t know,” he said finally.

She didn’t want to ask. She wouldn’t.

He waited for it, cracked a smile when she didn’t. Nodded at the control. “I didn’t know I had that in me.”

Max shook her head, unable to look away. “We’re more than just the animal.”

He leaned forward, nodding his head to her. “Maybe you. We’ve been trained to _be_ that animal.”

“Training can’t—”

“Max,” he hissed, fingers stilling her lips, lingering. The touch was _electric_ , obliterating the gap between them, something molten blooming at such a simple thing.

Alec’s eyes went heavy, fell to her mouth, thumb pressing against her bottom lip—

And Max was gone, up against the far wall and breathing like she’d been blurring for hours, shaken.

She shook her head, trying to get her own back and just—not doing it. “I just—I can’t give in to her. I can’t. Not when there’s a choice,” she stuttered out, willing him to see that, to agree.

Alec smiled for about a millisecond…and then looked away. “Careful, Max. They’re gonna take the choice away one of these days.”

***

Max paced and paced and it never made her feel better, her thoughts moving forward about as far as her body.

She loved Logan; she _did_. Wanted him, even, in a hazy, undefined way.

And then Alec had to go and be a good man, someone she respected, liked, thrust into something that tore at both of them and bearing it as gracefully as anyone could. He’d crawled under skin sometime, snuck in when she’d let her guard down, and now she couldn’t get him out, her body reacting automatically. No matter what her mind told her.

Even if her mind didn’t know what was up or down anymore.

He walked in on her like that, still pacing, and she only spared him a brief glance. Yes, he was fine, no fun and games today, and Max went back to ignoring him. But she couldn’t help but track his progress, watch out of the corner of her eye as he slumped onto her bed, back against the wall, eyes looking bruised.

“I miss being outside,” he said suddenly, thought coming out of nowhere.

She just grunted in response.

The clank of the door opening was new, had Max taking up a defensive stance before she thought about it. Alec didn’t move.

Renfro flicked her eyes over both of them before she walked in, unaccompanied. “Those fabled teenage hormones are letting me down,” she said, shaking her platinum head like she couldn’t quite believe it.

“What do you want?”

Renfro watched her, eyes tracking over all the cracks Max knew must be showing. “It’s been getting to you, hasn’t it, 452? Not surprising, everyone has their limits. Still, I have been most interested to watch your resolve. You’ve both impressed me,” she said, including Alec in it with a glance.

“Yeah, I’m sure you’ve been having a grand old time at our expense.”

“It didn’t have to be like this. You made it this way.”

“Because I’m not just some animal.”

“So you think. And now you’ve broken one of my soldiers,” she turned, facing Alec. “He can’t even find the energy to stand at attention anymore.”

“I’m right here,” Alec said, moving to get up.

Renfro waved at him to stay. “Oh, no, I wouldn’t want you to tax yourself, not with all the energy you’ve been expending while _not_ following my orders.”

She turned to watch Max again. “The two of you. No one ever would have guessed. I’ve got doctors screaming at me to let them take you apart, see where this stubborn streak comes from, and I could do that. But I want you to do what I say. And _remember_ it.”

Max glared, all military pretense gone, and Renfro just shook her head, like Max was being childish and if only she would follow Renfro, she’d learn the truth. 

Right.

“So, here’s what we’re going to do.” She reached into her jacket and pulled out a piece—.45 if Max knew anything—and pointed it at Alec. “You, 452, are going to copulate with 494 right now, or I will shoot him.”

Max snorted. “Like you’d hurt one of your—”

The gunshot startled her, teeth clicking closed audibly on a gasp. Her eyes swung wildly to Alec—

Who was looking at his arm like he couldn’t believe the blood welling through his fingers. Just a graze, from the look of it, and it worried her that Alec’s face had closed down, turned resigned, into something—something she couldn’t quite fathom.

“Still think I won’t do it?” Renfro asked pleasantly, like they were old girlfriends chatting over lunch.

Max assessed the woman.

“I know what you’re thinking,” she said, all superior and serene. “‘She’s just some ordinary. We’re two highly-trained killers, we could take her in a second.’ You’re right, of course, we did teach you how to evaluate an opponent. And you can kill me, take my gun. But where are you going to go? What are you going to do about the soldiers stationed all down the hall, ordered to shoot to kill if anyone but me leaves this room? Time to make a choice, 452.”

She was completely serious.

Max stalked toward Alec, not missing the defeated look there, pulling off her shirt as she went. Renfro wanted a show? Fine.

Alec didn’t get with the program until she straddled him, grabbing his shirt and using it to haul him up. “What—”

Easy access for a kiss, a real one, and Alec was still for only a blink, the slightest of pauses, before he had an arm around her waist and a hand in her hair and was kissing her back like he’d been dying for it.

That electricity was back, sparking between them, insistent and growing every time he dragged his tongue over her lip, slid fingers over the sensitive skin at her lower back. Max felt it coalesce, a low-level hum in her body that just would not be satisfied until he was inside her.

Guess her body was gonna get what it’d been aching for. Her mind was another matter.

Max pulled away, grasping his shirt and pulling up, tossing it away as Alec kissed her collarbone, worked at her pants.

She gasped as he bit a nipple through her bra, but shook off the distraction. She reached her hands down to tug at the laces of her boots, pull them off, barely even registering the two thumps as they hit the floor. Alec lifted her easily—simple, thoughtless strength there—helping her push down her pants, underwear, and then he pulled her back, licking into her mouth and drawing her into deep, drudging kisses that she didn’t know what to do with.

Max popped the button on his pants, hand down and pulling him out, making a negative whine when he would have moved to take them off. Max lifted herself up and smoothly came down, sheathing herself unexpectedly if his shocked gasp was anything to go by.

Then it was heat and wet and that dragging pleasure sliding thickly all through her, Alec’s hands on her hips sure, smoothing them into a mind-shattering rhythm. He kept his mouth on hers, drawing her gasps into his mouth, kissing and nipping, a bone-deep connection as Max braced her hands on his shoulders and tried not to fly apart.

Which went all to hell when Alec moved a hand, traced fingers down to her slick heat, swirling his thumb just _perfectly_.

Max’s world went molten, hot and tight and grasping, wanting _more_ even when he stilled and groaned into her mouth, spilling inside her.

It was a moment before she could scrape her way back to reality, past heaving mindless breaths and cataloguing if she could feel everything, back to Alec and his sex-dazed eyes, already clearing and darkening in a way that just—

The clapping sounded loud in the room, even though Max knew it was probably just her ears readjusting.

“Bravo,” Renfro said, faux-proud, finally stopping once she saw she had their attention. “Now don’t you appreciate my way of doing things?” she asked, eyes skating over them.

Max stayed mute, glaring as best she could when she was practically naked and Alec was still inside her. 

Renfro waved the gun a little. “I hope I won’t have to do this again tomorrow. But I will if you don’t follow my orders,” she said, friendliness gone, voice all steely resolve.

She walked toward the door, pausing as she reached it. “494, report to the med bay when you’re finished here,” she tossed off, like it was an afterthought. Then she walked out.

Max sighed, not wanting to look back at Alec, but knowing she had to.

His hands were again on her hips, fingers soft against the skin there. She finally met his eyes. 

He looked—blown, shocked, broken like Renfro had said, and maybe even terrified but. None of that was what scared her.

“Max—” he started.

“Did you really think I was gonna let her put holes in you until you couldn’t perform?” she asked lowly, fingers tracing the air above the graze on his arm.

“But—”

She cut him off again, not wanting to make this any worse than it already was, any more of a betrayal. “You should get that arm looked at,” she said instead, levering herself up and feeling him slip from inside her, not missing the way his eyes closed, but not commenting either.

She turned away.

***

Max had carefully not thought of it all day. She was still stuck in here—Renfro apparently hadn’t trusted them that far—and it was a feat, but she’d managed.

Right up until he walked into her cell again, hesitant and uncertain and _gorgeous_.

She hated her brain for that, but that didn’t mean much most days.

Alec didn’t say anything, just walked to where she was leaning against the wall, standing there, being all male and enticing like he was.

“Look, Max—”

She pushed off, into him, hand pulling his head down into a scathing kiss, full of everything she _hadn’t_ been thinking—anger and frustration and desire all rolled into some confusing jumble that she didn’t want to untangle.

Alec growled into her mouth, _getting_ it, and guided her back to the bed, already tugging at clothes, their shirts going first, followed by shoes and pants and underwear. She pushed him back, intending to mirror yesterday, but he made a noise of protest, flipped her easily, pressing skin into skin in a delicious slide and—

Slowing down.

“Not gonna happen, Maxie,” he murmured, licking delicately down between her breasts, tiny flicks of his tongue making her squirm.

“Alec—what?”

“It was a good plan—hard and fast, I can appreciate that, I can,” he said, pausing to swirl his tongue around a nipple, his hand stroking slow and languid up the inside of her thigh. “But that isn’t gonna work for me.”

“I don’t know what you—” But she did, she knew exactly what he meant, but couldn’t manage to drag up enough clarity of thought to turn this around on him. He was too distracting, fingers gliding all over, tracing swells and valleys, all while his mouth drove her insane, kissing everywhere, returning to her mouth again and again, devastating.

He spread her legs, pressed two fingers inside her, used the third to touch her expertly, all while braced above her, eyes on hers, taking in every gasp, every shiver, urging her on. 

“C’mon, Maxie, let go for me,” whispered into her mouth…and she did, head arched back and gasping, his fingers still playing her, his eyes still lapping up every tiny detail.

And then he started all over again, hands tracing patterns into her skin, following the shivers, learning, memorizing, _something_. All of it digging into her, into that place that had felt nothing for years, Alec methodically finding barriers and shifting them back with careful touches and blinding kisses and those ever-knowing _eyes_.

When he finally pressed inside her she expected a reprieve—no one was this controlled—but it was only a beat, a momentary lapse into real ecstasy, and he was back, over her, inside her, _watching_ her as he thrust.

And god it was good, better than anything, ever, sense of connection wholly there, in the way he whispered her name, the way he knew all the ways to make her fall to pieces, the brutal way he would not, _would not_ let her look away, hands in her hair making her see this, feel it, _all_ of it.

Max felt like she was someone else, even as she gripped strong legs around him, moaned his name every time a flash of that mind-numbing pleasure shot through her. She was here and not, herself and not, but with him everywhere.

“Max,” he whispered, sweat beading on his forehead, hand moving to run his thumb along her lips, follow it with his mouth as he stole her breath, reached between them and touched her.

She bucked up, mewling into his mouth as everything just _stopped_ , went white-hot and raging, coming like dying—all-encompassing and devastating.

Max let it roll through her, couldn’t do anything, just let it take her somewhere else, everything soft and muted and content, after-shivers of pleasure, echoes of the real thing, coming at intervals, stealing thought again and again.

And then Alec was back, in focus, all around her, breathing deep and steady and opening his eyes to press intensity into her.

She breathed out, sharp, and his eyes dropped to her mouth, leaned down to brush the barest tease of lips over it. He rolled to her side, ran soft fingers down her cheek, into her hair, shifting to press close, too close.

She couldn’t—it shouldn’t—too much. Max pushed him back blindly, rolling off her bunk and into a crouch, mouth forming words that she barely registered, whispers of “no no no no. I have to leave, I have to get out of here.” She sloppily started dressing, hands shaking, too much adrenaline in her system, not enough recovery. There wasn’t enough time in the _world_ to recover from that and—

Alec was next to her, talking in low tones, trying to soothe. “Max—”

Talking and trying to get her breath and—“I can’t stay. I can’t take this.”

“Max—”

Heart finally slowing, mind gone single-purposed, pushing everything else out, no need to think of it. “It has to stop. They can’t be allowed to do this to people, Alec. It’s not right.” She looked at him intently, breathing hard.

He nodded, hand stroking down her back, still soothing but. But something else, too, eyes gone calculating. “Okay. Okay, Max, I’ll help you. But I’m coming with you.”

Max’s thoughts darkened. “Everyone’s coming with me.”

***

Fin. Feedback is adored.


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